Christmas 2012

No pictures today. With no camera, we tried taking iphone photos, but the unwrapping was just too much for my phone to handle!
Hopefully I'll have some pictures from Dylan's birthday and Christmas to share soon.

Just want to say thank you for all the cards and nice thoughts people sent. Our table is filled with pictures and cards from the people we love most. It's a great reminder of what the season is all about--family and friends.

A special thank you to Aunt Vivian (sorry I have been bad about posting) and Uncle Gus (who I know doesn't read my blog). We got your cards, and were so excited!

My parents spoiled all of us as usual. Thanks, Mom and Dad! We are so lucky to have you in our lives. You mean the world to us, and we treasure the memories we are making and the relationship you have with Izzy and Dylan. We all love you so much!

Fred and Kelly spoiled us as well! One of the highlights of Christmas with Luke's family was visiting Grandma and Grandpa Kemp at the cemetery. We lit luminaries and Jake played "Amazing Grace" on his harmonica. Another fabulous opportunity to reflect on what is most important in life--family.

All in all, it was a great Christmas. We are looking forward to spending more time with family and friends as 2012 winds down and comes to a close. We wish all of you and yours a happy holiday season!

I'm behind!

We have had a busy month! I am excited to tell you all about...

*selling our house
*the Wasatch 100
*moving to Riverton
*baseball
*spending a week in California
*Isabelle's birthday
*moving back to Holladay
*house hunting (ugh!)

There is so much to talk about!

Summer Camp

Izzy got home from camp on Friday afternoon. She had a great time! We started looking through the pictures she took, and Luke and I thought she had a bit of an eye for photography. We're thrilled she had the opportunity to spend some time in the mountains with school friends learning all sorts of amazing things. I was happy to see her sun-kissed face jump off the school bus, her blue eyes sparkling the way they do when she has "so much to tell you!".
As a "footnote" (ha ha), she fractured her foot just hours after she got home and is currently hobbling around on crutches. It's funny to me that I worried about her while she was away at camp, but she got hurt stubbing her toe at home. Who would have thought?

A Perfect Date

Dylan and I had the chance to spend the day together, which doesn't happen very often. We are always running here or there, Izzy has dance, or I have work...it was a rare treat for us to have the entire day to spend one on one.
He helped me out at work until 2, then we took off and spent the rest of the afternoon at the Utah Museum of Natural History. Wow! Amazing! We could have spent at least an entire day. There were a lot of hands-on exhibits. We both learned a lot. Like Ravens and Beavers are huge! Dire wolves are real (who knew), we want to be Navajo, and spiders are super gross. I get it--spiders are helpful, blah blah blah. According to Dylan and I, they are ugly and sneak up on you. Thanks anyway.
After all that learning and exploring, we had worked up quite an appetite, so we went to Bruges for a pretty fabulous dinner. I got a vanilla waffle with creme fresh and raspberries, while Dylan had a vanilla waffle with vanilla bean ice cream, raspberries, and belgian chocolate drizzled on top. Ice cream for dinner?!? Everything I make for dinner from this point on will pale in comparison. If you haven't been, you really should give it a try. Mark and Sarah took us last week before the Band of Horses concert, and I haven't stopped thinking about that dang waffle since. Between the waffles and the massive amount of chocolate covered cinnamon bears I've been eating lately, I should be enormous by the next time you see me :)

Good Morning

I didn't feel like getting out of bed this morning...until I remembered that I got this yesterday.

Luke spoiled us big time. The kids have vowed to "take really good care of it" and eat in it "only when necessary". So cute.

'Ellen', our other Subaru, took us so many great places:
The San Rafael Swell
Goblin Valley
Escalante
Canyonlands
Arches
Las Vegas
Disneyland
Bear Lake
Logan
Idaho
Moab
Bryce Canyon
St. George
The list goes on and on. We are looking forward to all the fun places 'Vader' is going to take us. First on the list is Grandma Ruthie's house for 3 days of fun. It's just Grandma, Grandpa and the kids. They cannot wait to hang out. I'm going to be camping with our church youth group, Luke is going to be *surprise* running a lot, and we can't think of a more perfect place for our kids to be. I hope they realize how precious these moments are in their lives. Learning about our grandparents, forging relationships with them, loving them...what could possibly teach us more about the type of people we want to be?
Plus, we get to drive to their house in a super cute new car.
Wahoo!

That just happened!

A sweet little taste of victory and off to the state tournament--our boys played their hearts out today! I think the looks on their faces says it all.
Way to go Crown Colony!!

Caprese Skewers

Mozzarella, basil, grape tomato...repeat. I cut the tomatoes in half so the skewers would stand up.


Drizzle a little thickened balsamic reduction over the skewers and finish with some cracked black pepper.
A perfect little taste of summer!


(I got this idea from iowagirleats.com. I'm going to try her cheesecake stuffed strawberries next!)